Prodisee Pantry begins work on new building; scheduled to open in early 2012

Renovations planned for the new Prodisee Pantry building on U.S. 31 near Old Mobile Road in Spanish Fort include parking improvements and a loading dock. Plans call for the building to be reopened as a storage and distribution center for the food bank in early 2012. (GUY BUSBY/Press-Register)

SPANISH FORT, Alabama -- While the economy is improving in some areas of the Gulf Coast, the lines of people seeking food grow longer each week outside the doors of Prodisee Pantry, organizers said.

Work began last week to renovate a building on U.S. 31 in Spanish Fort where the food distribution center will move in 2012 to keep up with the growing demand for help.

Each Tuesday, people begin lining up at the current site long before the center doors open at 9 a.m., Joyce Underwood, Prodisee Pantry treasurer, said.

“Last Tuesday, we had 270 people who signed up for food. Last month it was 975,” she said. “We see one person, but they’re getting food for an entire family — three, four five people. We keep thinking it’s going to level off, but the numbers keep going up.”

Since January, Prodisee Pantry has provided food to 6,321 Baldwin County families, a total of 14,809 individuals with food and other assistance, such as referrals to service agencies, according to organization officials.

Prodisee Pantry has outgrown its site in the shopping center at the intersection of U.S. 31 and U.S. 98, Deanne Servos, program director, said. The center bought a former warehouse on U.S. 31 on Sept. 12 and is renovating the structure to become the new distribution site for the food bank.

The 16,000-square-foot building and four acres of property cost $520,000. Servos said the entire project, including parking lot improvements, roof repairs and building renovations, is expected to cost $800,000 to $900,000.

She said the group is working to raise about $350,000 to complete the project.

“We’re hoping that some people will donate services that will help us significantly reduce that cost,” she said. “If people and companies can help out that would be great. We need all the help we can get and we’re taking donations, $10, $25, $100 at a time. We’re going to get this done and we know we will.”

David Chalk, project volunteer, said the storage area of the old warehouse will be divided into two sections, one to store food and another space for offices and distribution.

“It’s going to be a very large undertaking, but a lot of people are willing to volunteer,” he said.

He said Prodisee supporters are looking for companies that can provide services as a donation or at a reduced cost for tasks that cannot be done by volunteers, such as renovating the parking lot and adding loading docks.

The storage areas in the shopping center are too small to allow forklifts or other machinery to be used. Tons of food have to be unloaded and carried to storage areas by hand, being moved as many as four times before being distributed, he said.

Servos said the project will help Prodisee Pantry’s mission, the people needing help and the community.

“We’re taking a building that’s not being used and putting it back in use,” she said. The owners of the current shopping center site plan to lease the area for retail use in the future, she said.

The new building will also include coolers and freezers, allowing Prodisee Pantry to store more varieties of food for longer periods, Servos said.

The facility can be used not only for weekly food distribution to residents needing help, but also emergency supplies after hurricanes or other disasters, Servos said.

Lynne Williams of Bromley said Prodisee Pantry has helped her family for the last two years. She first came to the food bank for assistance after being laid off by the Baldwin County Public School System. The service has helped provide food for her and her three children, she said.

“I was in the first group that was downsized by the Board of Education and it’s been tough since then,” she said. “I’ve been trying to find a job, but that’s been hard. If it wasn’t for these folks, there would have been times when we wouldn’t have had anything to eat.”

Servos said anyone wanting to volunteer or donate to the project can email Prodisee Pantry at office@prodiseepantry.org or call 251-626-1720. More information about the organization is also available on the group’s website at prodiseepantry.org.